Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Adventure Begins: "Boys I Believe I Have Found a Gold Mine!"

For Teachers 7th - 11th
Students view and discuss historical documents regarding Native Americans and Californians prior to the gold rush in the 1940's. They complete a variety of activities designed to show what they have learned from these sources and class...
PPT
Missouri University of science & Technology

General Overview History of the Panama Canal

For Students 10th - 12th
Called the Eight Wonder of the World by some and the Big Ditch by others, the Panama Canal is indeed an engineering marvel. The long, complicated, and sometimes controversial history of the canal is captured in a presentation loaded with...
Study Guide
Penguin Books

A Teacher's Guide to the Signet Classics Edition of Jack London's The Call of the Wild

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
The Yukon provides plenty of opportunity for adventure. A study guide for The Call of the Wild by Jack London, also the author of White Fang, helps readers navigate the novel which is set in Yukon, Canada. Chapter summaries give a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Klondike Fever

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students consider the geographical aspects of the gold rush. In this gold lesson, students research just what gold is and where it has been found. Students create maps that highlight the regions of the world where gold has been...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Follow The Road to Riches

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students examine the various events occurring at the time of the Gold Rush. They see archival photographs and hear historians talk about this era. They create a time line in order to facilitate thinking about this region during the...
Writing
1
1
Oklahoma State Department of Education

Narrative Prompt

For Students 8th Standards
Reading about history is nothing like experiencing it firsthand. Encourage your eighth graders to do the next best thing with a historical narrative prompt, in which they describe the experience of a first-time traveler on the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Gold Fever

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students read the story Gold Fever about the Gold Rush and write journal entries as if they were miners. In this Gold Rush lesson plan, students also pull out rocks from a back, and if they pick a gold one, they have struck it rich!
PPT
Curated OER

Manifest Destiny

For Teachers 8th - 11th
Complete with maps, photographs, and historical documents, this presentation would be a great resource throughout a unit about mid-19th century America. Manifest Destiny, Texas Independence, the Oregon Trail, and the Mexican War are...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Interest and Credit : Business in the Gold Rush and Business Today

For Teachers 9th - 11th
Students differentiate the way interest was in the old days compare to today. In this algebra lesson plan, students analyze credit and interest from their parents' point of view, Biblical point of view and a business point of views.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Gold Rush Abolitionists: How different was the role of Spanish-speaking blacks under Mexican rule from the role of English-speaking blacks under U.S. rule?

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students determine how Spanish-speaking blacks and English speaking blacks were treated differently. In this emancipation lesson, students compare the Mexican and American rules regarding slavery.     
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Striking It Rich!

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders explore the California Gold Rush. They explore the lure of gold and the Wild West, how pioneers traveled to the West, and the hardships and people they encountered along the way. Activities be authentic, hands-on, and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

THE GAM SAAN ADVENTURE ARE YOU WILLING TO RISK IT?

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders study the lasting influence of the Pony Express, Overland Mail Service, Western Union, and the building of the transcontinental railroad, including the contributions of Chinese workers to its construction. They explore the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Eureka! You've Struck

For Teachers 4th
While incomplete, this lesson could provide ideas for a lesson on the California gold rush. Learners look at a chart to analyze population growth in San Francisco after the discovery of gold, analyze political changes that occurred, and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Days of '49: "I've Been Toiling Hard for the Last Two And a Half Years"

For Teachers 6th - 11th
Students trace the stages of gold mining in California. They discuss the life of a gold miner and how the discovery of gold influenced towns and cities in California during the 1949 Gold Rush.
Activity
Education World

Every-Day Edit: California Gold Rush

For Students 3rd - 8th
For this everyday editing activity, students correct grammatical mistakes in a short paragraph about the California gold rush. The errors range from punctuation, capitalization, grammar, and spelling.
Worksheet
2
2
K12 Reader

Traveling to the Distant West

For Students 6th - 8th
If you build it they can come. After reading a short article about the impact of western expansion, middle schoolers cite evidence from the article to explain how this expansion forced changes in transportation.
PPT
Curated OER

Chapter 12: American History

For Teachers 8th - 9th
Short and to the point, these slides cover some basic points about life in 19th centrury America. Topics such as Texas Independence, the California Gold Rush, and the Oregon Territory are briefly mentioned, and some of the facts are hard...
Worksheet
Curated OER

Mystery State #26

For Students 4th - 6th
In this mystery state worksheet, students answer five clues to identify the state in question. They then locate that state on a map.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dinosaur! Fossil Rush: Tale of a Bone

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Explore 1870s when a "bone rush" led to amazing discoveries, as fossil-hunters risked life and limb in their quest for dinosaur remains. The class uses the attached visual encyclopedia to prep for a discussion on early paleontology. Two...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Legacies of El Dorado

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars explore the development of urban California as it was driven by the Gold Rush boom. They study historical documents and participate in a variety of hands-on activities designed to reinforce the concept of the lesson.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

California Here We Come!

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students, in groups, explore the impac the Gold Rush immigration had on the culture of California. They write a newspaper article from the 1850s identifying immigrant groups to California during the Gold Rush era.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ethnic Family Life

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders examine the impact of the gold rush on different cultures.  In this American History lesson plan, 11th graders examine the reasons for ethnic diversity in the west. 
Lesson Plan
San Francisco Symphony

By the Great Horn Spoon!

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
By The Great Horn Spoon is a fantastic novel for introducing learners to life during the California Gold Rush. First, kids research and analyze American folk songs, then they connect to the text as they listen to symphonic pieces written...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Motivational Introduction to the California Gold Rush

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders download pictures and write script for narration as they create a KidPix slide show to introduce the study of the California Gold Rush.

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